Kaattathe Kilikkoodevide ?

Just another weekend with my mind on hiatus. Thats all I had planned. But the fates would not have it. For some reason they prompted me to watch Padmarajan's Koodevide (Where is your nest?) and Bharathan's Kaattathe Kilikkoodu (A nest in the wind) back to back . Two very good Malayalam movies, both made in 1983 -one featuring Mammootty, the other Mohan Lal and each with an actress who would eventually go on to win a National Award for path breaking performances in the neighbouring state's cinema, Suhasini for Sindhu Bhairavi and Revathi for Thevar Magan . And the similarities didn't end there.

Each film had an excellent song, tuned by Johnson and rendered by S.Janaki, very much in keeping with the ethos of the film. If the free flowing "Aadi Vaa Kaatte" from Koodevide condenses the languid nature of the movie's narrative up to that point, the Brindavana Saranga from Janaki's voice in Kaattathe Kilikkoodu's "Gopike Nin Viral" lassoes, drags and roots your willing imagination in the midst of a harmonious household. English literature too, made its appearance in the allegorical connective tissue of both films. Gopi's "Shakespeare" Krishna Pillai instructing his students in the nuances of Othello was as much a harbinger as the Ode to a Skylark that Suhasini's Alice taught as part of her curriculum. After all, when the ramifications of her interest in the new problem child admitted to her class ran their course, she would wish she "ne'er knew love's sad satiety". Both films had the same green fuel coursing through the story's engine - jealousy. While the insidious nature of that emotion is demonstrated extensively in both films, the embodiments of the jealousy were what made the movies an interesting study in contrast.

Thanks to a grinch of an aunt, played to perfection by KPAC Lalitha, Asha decides to use her neighbour's house as base for her clandestine romance. She befriends the lady of the house,Sarada, and through her even convinces Krishna Pillai, Sarada's husband and professor of English literature at her college, to tutor her. But when her boyfriend, Unnikrishnan, develops a filial affection for Sarada, she see's green. Bharathan and John Paul indicate very clearly that Asha has no reasons for her suspicion, except the capricious nature of a woman nay girl who has fallen in love but does not have the maturity to navigate its waters. The jealousy of Koodevide's Captain Thomas however is intrinsic to his cultural identity, a deeply rooted male ego born of patriarchal traditions. In a drunken stupor that precipitates his insecurities, he declares loudly to Alice (rough translation from Malayalam) "I am a Kanjirapalli Christian. And a Kanjirapalli Christian man, knows how to control his woman". Most women I know, would have run for this hills after such an exhibition!

Asha's retaliation is what can be expected of a slighted teenager. However she does not realise that as a child playing an adults game, she will soon be out of her depths. Only when Krishna Pillai, with whom Asha decided to flirt to spite her boyfriend, confront's her after leaving his wife and home does she realise that she has bitten off more than she can chew. All too willingly, she rushes back into Unnikrishnan's arms. And although we are left with a scene indicating that Sarada's little nest is restored to its original state with Krishna Pillai's return, the movie manages to leave us with an inkling that refurbished relationships never function as before. Alice's predicament is more apparent in Koodevide. Literally left with nowhere to turn after her fiance', Captain Thomas, confesses to murdering her protege' the stark nature of the what stands before her is self-evident.

The movies left me with this picture of humanity laboring over this elaborate mansion of cards that would collapse if one rogue player decided not to play by the rules. Not useful when the objective is to put your mind on hiatus. But as Robert Burns said "the best laid plans o mice an men aft go agley".